Circulating microRNA expression and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in adolescents with severe obesity

Figure 1 Volcano plots of associations between histological features of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and microRNA expression. A: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); B: MiRNAs associated with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) relative to nonalcoholic fatty liver; C: MiRNAs associated with ballooning; D: MiRNAs associated with fibrosis; E: MiRNAs associated with lobular inflammation. Solid horizonal line represents P = 0.05, and any dots above the line indicate miRNAs with significant associations. Negative associations are in blue; positive associations are in red; black dots below the solid line represent insignificant miRNAs; higher absolute x-value of a dot indicates greater magnitude of change in miRNA expression in patients with histological progression of NAFLD, either increased (x > 0) or decreased (x < 0); higher y-value of a dot indicates smaller P value of associations. NAFLD: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; NASH: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.

Figure 2 Heatmap of microRNA associated with two or more histological features of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Heatmap for association between microRNA (miRNA) expression and histological features of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in Teen-Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery participants. Red indicates positive association, and purple indicates negative association. 16 miRNAs were associated with two or more histological features and were assigned into two clusters by k-means clustering. Cluster 1 (red bar on left) includes 6 miRNAs that are mostly upregulated in patients with NAFLD, but downregulated in patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) (relative to nonalcoholic fatty liver), ballooning, fibrosis, and lobular inflammation. Cluster 2 (green bar on left) includes 10 miRNAs that are mostly upregulated in the presence of NASH, ballooning and fibrosis. ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01, ^cP < 0.001. NAFLD: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; NASH: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.